Automatic steam-whistle on



J. HARRISON, Jr. fiailrpad Signal.

No. 14,562. I Patented April I, 1856.

N. PETERS. Phnlauihogmphor, Wafldnglqm o. c.

to the subject of the present.

has been arranged so that it might be rung UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

JAS.

HARRISON, JR OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

AUTOMATIC STEAM-WHISTLE 0N LOCOMOTIVES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 14,562, dated April 1, 1856; Reissued November 9, 1858, No. 621.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES HARRISON, J r.-, of the city and county of Milwaukee and State of WVisconsin, have invented a new and useful Apparatus for Sounding the Steam-Whistle on Locomotives; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, formingpart of this specification, in which,

Figure 1, is a side View of the apparatus, showing it partly in section. Fig. 2, is a top View of the same. Figs. 3 and 4: are views of parts of the same detached.

Similarletters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

Numerous automatic arrangements have been devised for signalizing and so forth on a track or line of railroad by the locomotive while in motion, as, for instance by outside appliances on the track operated on by the locomotive or train in passing at stations, crossings or other fixed points on the line, and the signal or alarm thus given has either been visual or audible as desired. To such arrangements there is great objection: the complicated multiplication or di-' vision of the appliances over the whole track, and the attendant uncertaintyof action thereof, is in itself a killing one, but there are other objections connected wit-h the conjoint adjustment of these appliances, or their separate adjustment from a distant terminus, to suit varying exigencies of the line, also with the operation of them in snowy or bad Weather, their liability to derangement, and the nature or character of the signals or alarms operated by them, that render all such arrangements of no avail. Again indicators of the different stations on the road have been automatically operated, but these for the most part have been innocent devices productive of very different results and in no ways pertaining A bell also automatically, by the engineer starting certain machinery to operate it on arriving at the points or places requiring the alarm, and for such Letters Patent have been granted, but this required the attention of It is well known that visual signals are not to be relied upon in railroad traveling, not only at night but in the day, and no audible alarm has been found so effective for all conditions of the atmosphere or weather as the well known steam whistle,

none so capable of such nice adjustment as it has not heretofore been deemed practicable to employ any automatic arrangement for sounding the whistle at the many fixed points on a line of railroad, such as stations, crossings and so forth, Where the whistle is invariably required to be sounded, and the duty of doing so has always been as it is now incumbent upon the driver orhis help and to whose negligence to attend to it many accidents have occurred.

The object of my invention is to cause the locomotive automatically to sound the whistle at these or other fixed points with all the requisite modifications of tone or sound both as regards degree and duration to suit local peculiarities'as before referred to, without the aid of any outside appliance, and in such a manner as to be capable, with convenience, certainty and dispatch, of change or variable adjustment accordingly as the exigencies of the line may require, to suit variable speeds change in the running of the other trains on the line or over crossings and so forth.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, is a hollow cylinder having two spiral grooves a, a, extending right through to its interior and spiral flanges b, 19, standing up between the said grooves. This cylinder is connected by arms B, B, to a center shaft or journals 0, 0, supported in suitable fixed bearings m, m, and the said arms unite with ribs 03, d, which extend from end to end of The shaft of the cylinder is intended to be geared with one of the truck wheels of the locomotive in such a manner that the periphery of the cylinder will rotate not less than about 6 inches for every mile run by the locomotive, and the cylinder must be of such length that the entire length of the grooves a, a, will correspond in the above stated proportion with the greatest distance run by a locomotive at one trip.

On one side of the cylinder is placed a standard 0, the head C, of which carries the fulcrum Z, of a lever D, to one end of which is attached a stud e, which enters and fits easily in the space between the flanges Z), Z), and the other end of which is furnished with a curved slotted head j, to fit to the top of the movable part of the steamwhistle E, or of the plug commonly employed, by the depression of which steam is admitted into the whistle. The end of the lever which thus connects with the whistle is intended to be held up by a spring and by that means the other end is depressed so as to hold the stud 6, down between the flanges b, b. The revolution of the cylinder causes the stud e, to travel along between the flanges .7), b, from one end toward the other end of the cylinder and in order that the lever may accommodate itself to this movement the head C, of the standard C, turns on a pivot C shown dotted in Figs. 1 and 2. It is for this purpose also that the lever is provided with the slotted head j, the slot being described from the center C and to enable the stud e, to accommodate itself to the movement of the lever, it is fitted to the lever with a pivot e. At certain intervals apart allalong one of the grooves a or a, corresponding with the distances between the difl'erent points where the whistle is to be sounded, a number of bolts f, f F, f are inserted in the groove and secured by the heads of the bolts resting on the periphery of the cylinder and the application of a plate 9, and nut h, inside the cylinder. This method of securing the bolts is perhaps best shown in Fig. 3, which is a transverse section of a small portion of the periphery of the cylinder taken parallel with the axis thereof. The heads of these bolts which may be termed lifters are just broad enough in one direction to fill the space between the flanges b, b, but in a direction parallel with the flanges they are of different lengths, as shown in Figs. 1, and 2, and the extremities i, z", are inclined so that as the cylinder revolves and they come in contact with the stud, 6, they will easily raise it and the end of the lever to which it is attached, and thus depress the opposite end of the lever and sound the whistle. The greater the length of the lifters from 2', to 2", the longer time the stud 6, will remain raised and the longer time will the whistle remain open and continue to sound. It will be readily understood that, by a proper number of lifters f, f f f set at proper dis tances apart and being of proper length from 2', to z", the whistle may be sounded at all the points on the line where necessary, for as long or short a time as may be desired.

According to local requirements, and by employing lifters (f f f f) of different thicknesses the character of the sound it is obvious will be further affected; the changing of any one or more of these lifters as occasion or local peculiarity requires and the adjustment of them relatively to each other around the cylinder to suit varying periods of action is performed with the greatest convenience, steadiness and dispatch by the specified construction of the cylinder and the manner in which they are connected with it.

In order to show that the apparatus is in proper order at starting and also to let the engineer know in the night or at other times where he is, I employ a fixed dial Gr, see Figs. 2 and 4c, (the latter figure being a face view) and with the cylinder A, I connect by gearing a pointer n, which will move around or nearly around the dial in the time occupied by the stud e, in running the whole length of the cylinder, and to the dial I attach a number of movable points 0, 0, corresponding to the lifters f, f f f having marked on them the names of the stations on other points of the route. But this dial and indicator are not indispensable parts of the apparatus.

The reason for providing two grooves a, a, for the cylinder, is, that two sets of lifters f, 1, f f &c., may be used, one set in one groove for going in one direction and the other set in the other groove for returning in the opposite direction. It might be at first supposed that the same set of lifters may be used in going and returning but as it is necessary to sound the whistle always before arriving at a crossing or other point where warning is required, the same setwould not work both ways without some arrangement for slipping the wheel on its axle, and that would not operate so well owing to the difference in the time of warning required at different places. It is therefore better to use two sets of grooves. When the engine is about to return the engineer ungears the cylinder A, from the engine, if necessary, to bring the starting point on the other groove to a suitable position for the stud to be placed at that point, and then the stud and the corresponding end of the lever D, are raised by hand out of the groove in which they have been working and shifted into the other.

The reason for arranging the lifters spirally upon a cylinder is that such ar- The within described apparatus, consisting of the spirally slotted or grooved cylinder (A) for connection with and operation by the locomotive, detachable and adjustable lifters (f, f f f of varying thickness, length, or breadth, and lever (D) or its equivalent, in combination with and for operation on the whistle (E), substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

JAS. HARRISON, JUNE.

Witnesses:

Jo's. GEO. MASON, WM. TUsoH.

[Fmsr PRINTED 1912.] 

